1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for displaying a scroll bar on the screen of a display apparatus of a computer, a word processor, various terminals and various portable electronic equipment in order to scroll the data displayed on the screen of the display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The scroll bar is displayed on the screen of a display apparatus of a personal computer or the like. The scroll bar includes a plurality of scroll buttons and a scroll box. The length of the scroll box with respect to the whole length of the scroll bar represents the size of the data displayed on the screen relative to the whole data. The position of the scroll box with respect to the scroll bar represents the position of the data displayed on the screen relative to the position of the whole data. A plurality of scroll buttons are arranged fixedly on the screen. The scroll buttons are provided for determining the direction and speed of scroll, respectively.
The operator desirous of scrolling the data on the screen operates a pointing device such as a mouse to move a pointer to the scroll bar, and after setting the pointer to the desired scroll button, depresses the mouse button. Then, the document on the screen scrolls in the direction and at the rate corresponding to the scroll button depressed. In operatively interlocked relation with the scroll of the data, the scroll box moves in the scroll bar. The scroll speed, on the other hand, is controlled to add the speed progressively as the scroll button is kept depressed.
In conventional display apparatuses, the scroll box moves in the scroll bar while the scroll buttons are fixedly arranged in the scroll bar. The resulting larger distance between the scroll box and the scroll buttons increases the mount of operation of the pointing device for moving the pointer. Also, for the scroll to be continued on the screen, the scroll button is required to be kept depressed. In the case where the scroll speed is increased by keeping the scroll button depressed, the scroll speed cannot be easily controlled. In the conventional display apparatus, therefore, the scroll bar cannot be easily operated.
The object of the present invention is to provide a display apparatus comprising an easy-to-operate scroll bar and a method of controlling the display.
The present invention has been developed to achieve the above-mentioned object.
According to the present invention, there is provided a display apparatus and a display control method for displaying a scroll bar including a plurality of scroll buttons and a scroll box for displaying data in scroll, wherein the scroll buttons and the scroll box are moved in operatively interlocked relation. The scroll buttons and the scroll box can be displayed integrally.
In scrolling data according to the invention, the pointing device is operated so that the pointer on the screen is set to a scroll button. Then the scroll button is depressed. This operation causes the data on the screen to be scrolled while at the same time moving the scroll box and the scroll buttons in operatively interlocked relation. Unlike the conventional fixed scroll buttons, therefore, the distance between the scroll buttons can be shortened. As a result, the coverage of the distance for operating the pointing device is reduced and the scroll operation is facilitated.
In the present invention, the conventional fixed scroll buttons can both be arranged on the scroll bar.
Further, a scroll button for line-by-line scroll and/or a scroll button for page-by-page scroll operatively interlocked with the scroll box can be provided.
According to the present invention, when a scroll button is depressed by the pointer, the scroll button moves in operatively interlocked relation with the scroll box. According to the invention, therefore, the pointer is controlled to move with the scroll buttons. This eliminates the operation for moving the pointer in accordance with the movement of the scroll box after a scroll button is depressed, thereby improving the operability.
Also, according to the invention, the scroll speed can be changed in accordance with the operation of the pointing device or, for example, the movement of the mouse. This permits the operator to control the scroll speed arbitrarily.